Travelled to Sweden during Semlor season, deep winter, arriving by train and flixbus from the Netherlands.
Going to Sweden in the middle of winter, January-February, is usually not the preferred period, it is cold and dark, not during the festive period either. The only plus point is that it is Semla season, which was my main motivation to go there around my birthday (February 6th).
Back in November i had purchased a 10-day Interrail ticket i used during Christmas holidays, and since it was valid for 2 months after activation, i decided to give myself a birthday present and visit friends in Lund. And That would be my first time in Sweden, after Denmark and Norway!
Sweden at last!
I was supposed to arrive to Lund by train, but In Hamburg all trains to Denmark from Hamburg got cancelled due to some kind of technical problem, possibly ruining my trip. I then thankfully found a flixbus going there. You bet I was the happiest person in the world once I had secured my small holiday. After 6 hours I was in Lund!!! It had snowed a bit that evening and walking to the hostel -luckily at walkable distance from the station as it was past midnight- felt soo magical! I was the only person in town!
I stayed at Winstrup hostel, located right in the centre, a no-staff hostel, which i do recommend if you don’t feel the need for social activities within it! I had a quick meetup with my friend and that was soo cool!!
The following day started by thinking about exploring a supermarket for breakfast. I only ended up getting an egg sandwich, but fika was waiting for me..
After some miscommunication caused by me turning off data and forgetting to turning it back on, I met up with my friends, and we visited Lund’s cathedral and assisted to an explanation of a clock engine thing inside. The priestess doing that was also late. It was not that interesting, I must confess. I am also not very enthusiastic about visiting churches usually.. We could have visited a museum, but had no time really. And my friends kept saying that in winter there was not much to do anyway..
Fika and books
One of the reasons I was excited about visiting Sweden in February was Semlor!! Of course I got one, plus a räkmacka, a shrimp open-face sandwich. So good!! Semlor might not be thaaaat incredible, but it was something I absolutely had to get off my bucket list. I expected it to be harder and that the dough itsself would be almond-based, but it was actually very soft, and the almond thing is like a cream on top of the base of the semla.
Before and after we had been to a statioenery shop (Lexis Papper) and a book shop (Akademibokhandel). As one of my things from ym bucket list for Sweden, I got a journal there. I also got a book about Sami characters, and Pippi postcards! I loved checking out the bookshop..
Falafelrulle and Lördagsgodis
Lös(vikt)godis: bulk candy!
We got to ICA to get Lördagsgodis, the Saturday candy. Swedes are wild for sweets, and you can see that in their supermarkets, with an entire aisle of bulk candy and chocolates… We got them and ate them at the hostel, after having eaten a falafelrulle, 🙂
End of the trip with a Kanelbulle for breakfast
The morning I left, very early, the ICA near the station was luckily already open and I used my last hour in Sweden to get a sacred kanelbulle!! Nothing I cannot eat elsewhere, but had to tell myself I had eaten a Swedish kanelbulle..
Speaking Swedish
I actually apparently got a discount even if I should have been registered because the shop assistant was surprised I spoke Swedish, after I answered that no, I had no personnummer because I had only been in Sweden on day up to that moment in my life, that day..
A cashier at the supermarket was also surprised when I replied in Swedish after she realized I was not a local from my trouble dealing with the self-service cassa..
I did go to Sweden in summer after this trips, so check out my other posts to see the bright side of the Nordics as well!
Norwegian, Danish, Finnish and Swedish Christmas markets in Rotterdam. Christmas decorations, imported typical Nordic products for sale, a cafe with lunch and cakes in each of them!
Lucia brings light in the darkest night of the year and is a mix of pagan and christian traditions. It is celebrated in Scandinavia with processions, saffron buns and church concerts.
My summer holiday was travelling to Scandinavia by train with interrail, passing by Copenhagen, Gothenburg, lake Vänern, Aalborg and Aarhus
After having canceled my initial plan one year ago, only passing by Denmark last summer, my plan for 2024 was to go to Sweden, and as I happen to have a penpal who lives on the lake of Vänern, visit her! Once again, by train. Which means stopping by somewhere, so I also spent some time in Denmark again, before and after.
Super Quick stay in Copenhagen
I hoped I’d arrive earlier, but problems with Deutsche Bahn made me arrive a couple hours later to Denmark than what I had hoped for. First thing I got was an ice cream i had noticed last year – a Daim mint cone, I love anything chocomint!!
I booked the night at the Sleep in Heaven hostel in the Nørrebro area, so went on a tour of it after checking in. The park Superkilenlooks cooler in pictures, but that did not surprise me. Then I decided I would walk to the centre and I got a Matilde strawberry milkshake, which as probably all stawberry milkshakes tasted like medicine.
I started walking towards Nyhavn but I figured I’d better reduce the damage (it was already past 11pm) and go to sleep asap to wake up earlier and see the centre before my train to Sweden… Could have slept more but no regrets at least…At some point a studenterkørsel bus drove by, playing ‘Elskovspony’, one of my favourite Danish songs, hehe…
I woke up rather early to see Copenhagen, and walked to Nyhavn, saw Rosenborg from the gate, a super cute souvenir shop and pastel buildings. I wanted to see the Little Mermaid – Den Lille Havfrue– Copenhagen’s icon, but didn’t want to miss my train and turned back (again).
Then at the 7/11 mini Wienerbrød: “minimums” – small versions, which is great for people like me who like to taste everything possibly without overeating… I got a Spandauer and a Tebirkes!
From the Øresund to the Öresund
The Öresund train from Copenhagen (where it leaves as Øresund) was headed all the way to Gothenburg, quite packed, but I managed to get on early and have a spot. It felt great to see Sweden, after having only seen the southernmost chunk last winter (I will post about that too..).
After a few hours I was in Gothenburg, where I’d take the train to Trollhättan. First things first, checking shops at the station. Pressbyrån is everywhere, and has loads of chocolate and candy…. Besides that, you can also get your hot dog there. And of course pastries and sandwiches
I saw a lot more variety in Sweden than Denmark when it came to ice lollies, though both countries have their own classics (in Denmark Københavner stang, Champagne Brus, Kung Fu etc), and a number of common ones like the Daim cones.
Once in Trollhättan I got picked up and we went to the supermarket, which always feels somewhat exciting, haha. Funny to see walls of Potatismos and Lingonsylt being sold in buckets. And this is kräftskivor (crayfish) season, so there was equipment for it in the supermarket..
The start could not be better with Swedish husmanskost: köttbullar potatoes!!
day 1: Chill summer day in a Swedish lake town
Day started with my first Swedish breakfast. bread bread and bread with all possible jams.. And Kalles kaviar!
The first full day we went to town and I was so excited to properly fika! Apparently there’s a standard fika pink triangular pastry called Milano. I will look up why it is called like that.
Afterwards, I walked along the lake (Vänern) and in town, it truly felt like I was inside a Pippi Longstocking’s episode, it felt somewhat magical, a truly wonderful Swedish sunny summer day. Actually, there was a shop selling a lot of Pippi stuff in town! And a little Emil too..
Dinner was a ‘Swedish Taco’ as I named it, and then we went to eat icecream! the kiosk at the lake had its own ice lollies, among which an Emil one
day 2: Trip to Gothenburg
As I was reasonably close to Sweden’s second city, I obviously wanted to visit it. When I arrived to Gothenburg I did not quite understand in what direction I was supposed to go to to see the centre. I just walked somewhere, beginning with another ice cream off my list, a lemon cornetto – I also love lemon-flavored things, by the way…
I walked around, ended up to the harbour, then somehow got in the actual city centre, got postcards at a bookshop and I admired bakeries/cafés, posponing a fika break for later…After some time i stumbled upon a small library, which is always cool, but this was a godsend as it had a WiFi connection and sockets under a table to charge my phone…that probably saved my day. While walking I had seen the city’s museum, Göteborgs stadsmuseum, and decided to head back to it after the library.
The TV series Vår tid är nu was filmed there! I watched it on Netflix in 2021! I did not have time to visit the museum, but I followed my friend’s advice and went straight to the museum’s shop, which did have nice stuff indeed. Got myself a flower food box, Chritmas tree flag decoration (!) and Dala horse decoration..
..
My friend also said there was a Moomin shop, which, whether my wallet liked it or not meant I knew where I wanted to go. I got a lamp and a glass, would have got more but almost € 20 for a glass was enough for this time..
I reaaally needed to go to the toilet, and I first went to the Haga city part, did not really find a café that I felt like sitting in and have a fika, so I went all the way back to where I came from and ended up getting the smallest pastry – a Mazarin. I also got to charge my phone there, which saved me again..
To not have regrets, I got a korv at Pressbyrån…and a Liquorice (Lakrits) is king in Sweden, there is liquorice chocolate, liquorice ice cream… And that was the last Ice cream I HAD to try!
Day 3: Antique and second-hand shops
We went to an antique shop nearby, which had actually quite cool stuff, including old postcards! I ended up not getting anything though.. We went to Uddevalla later to see a second hand shop! I did not see anything I wanted to get there, but at the very end I saw a table flag behind the counter, asked if it was for sale, and I got it for free!!
I found among others a wacky mug making fun of Norwegians about using the inside of the mug…
Then it was time for fika again at Kakeria in Kråkestan, and given all the sweet stuff I had been eating, I went for a räkmacka. I do have to say that you can make a macka yourself at home, but pastries and cakes are not quite as easy as placing shrimps and salad on bread…I also happened to go to the toilet in a pizzeria in front of it, which was open but nobody inside. Guess this is possible in the Swedish countryside…
After the fika, we went for a small hike
Then we went to the supermarket, and I got a ‘radioactive’ looking pear Budapest pastry. The classic version was finished, but one of my goals when in Sweden has become to try as much pear-flavored stuff as possible, haha! Another fika classic tried eitherway. The Dinner was korv with potatismos and a billion toppings I added!
Hejdå Pippi country
My time in Sweden had come to an end, and being on time at the station, I checked out souvenir shops..Pippi and Moomin souvenirs are as big as Pear and liquorice flavored food in Sweden.. And now I have my own Lilla Gubbe… and got Pippi’s Krumelurpiller candy.
As the Swedes are obsessed with candy, there was also a candy part in the shop, featuring among others the famous polkagris sticks from Gränna, and apparently a Swedish classic called king of Denmark (Kung av Danmark), haha.
Which, brings me to the next part of my holiday, heading back to Denmark.
Day 5: Arrival and trip to Aalborg
The third and last part of my holiday was 2 full days in Jutland. I took my train in the early afternoon from Gothenburg and got to Aarhus around 22… I already had a trip planned for the following day to Aalborg +meetup with friends in Aarhus.
I had never been to North Jutland, so this time I decided to visit Nordjylland’s main city, Aalborg! Instead of train though, I got there with a bus service as there were works going on on the tracks. I got Raspberry/liquorice candy from DSB!
After having been tremendously blessed with the weather in Sweden, in Aalborg it was grey and rainy, I also got a sommerhorn at the shopping centre Salling, which was with marzipan and orange. (Some classic pastries in Denmark are flødebolle, træstamme, marzipan frogs (?), Napoleonshat, nøddehorn, studenterbrød). We went to the rooftop although it was not the best day to enoy it… We had lunch at Aalborg street food. Not Danish food, although I would enjoy that too.
Then I went back to Aarhus and there the sun was shining! So I sat at the dokk1, one of my favourite places!
After that, I went to the bar my friend works at and The Danish handball team was playing, so I got a Denmark hat there ❤
Day 6: ArOS and shopping
This was the third time in Aarhus, although up until now I’ve barely been there for an entire day, and something I absolutely wanted to visit was the art museum ArOS! Which in other words is the rainbow circle building
The weather was truly perfect, sunny and windy, a blessing
I did not like the modern part that much, but the 1800-ish paintings were the best there, And as follow 2 of my favourites (there were quite a few depicting Italy, but these ones are more relevant to the blog..):
Norway! With tiny women in bunad I spotted. By Gotfred Rump
And here’s a Danish hilly coast and half-timbered house by Vilhelm Kyhn.
Then I walked here and there in the centre, got 2 books continuing my collection of Tænkepauser booklets by Aarhus University Press; after those about Dreams and Europe I got another two, about Language and Nationality! And then a flag at Søstrene Grene. Oh boy do I like flags…
Of course I had on my bucket list getting very Danish grocery stuff: my intention was to just get Karrysild (curry herring) but ended up also buying tomato herring, koldskål and Kammerjunkere, which go together (sour yogurt and cookies?).
I had tried these things in 2021 and despite getting 1L of koldskål one day before taking trains an entire summer day, I had to do this..
After this I had to leave Denmark, and I did not have the best return trip…I also got sick shortly after, probably due to some child I bumped into, but it was fun, I wonder what destination it will be next time!
(Actually, I still have to post about my first time In Sweden last winter, so stay tuned..)!
I joined the polyglot gathering in Prague, an event for language lovers with lectures and activities
First of all, to be updated about language events you can follow me on instagram at @ chiaraspeaksnordic
In May 2024 i went to the Polyglot Gathering – an event I had been dreaming about for a while, but did not know if I would never manage to join. However, after stumbling upon its existence not too long before it would take place, In the course of a few days I figured out I could actually make it! Here is my experience at it.
Sign-up, info Pre-gathering and visiting Prague
After checking out programs of past editions, info and such on the Polyglot Gathering website, I signed up a couple weeks before the event would take place. By signing up early on you would get discounts, so next time I’ll try to do this asap. The main thing to be sure about was getting there, and turns out there is a European Sleeper train to Prague.
I attempted at studying Czech before leaving..Saxonian Switzerland from the train
I arrived there around 11am and had planned to just walk around on Saturday as it would have been a pity to just stay inside a building (and pay for an entire day of activities) while I had a brand new city and country to explore. I also tried the most touristy street food, the Trdelník (chimney). BUT of course, without ice cream, unlike everybody. I had lunch at the Havelska Koruna, budget authentic Czech food restaurant.
A challenge related to the Gathering was learning Czech. Having to start from scratch, I tried to focus on practical stuff as food vocabulary in the little time I had, and didn’t manage to go much further than memorizing words for apples and potatoes.
having to look up stuff slowed down my deciding process… That was frustrating! This was my first time in a country with a language I do not understand at all, last time I was 13… One thing I really look forward to if next year’s gathering will still be in Czechia, will be improving my Czech skills, if anything to navigate these things more efficiently.
Sunday: The Gathering
Anyway, I was ready to join the Gathering on Sunday, the last day of it. I met two Italian girls walking just outside the University building where the event took place, so I didn’t have to figure out myself how to exactly come in, as it was not super clear. As I registered I was given a tote bag with a notebook, a pen, few pins, a bottle of water and of course my language tag that I had filled in while signing up for the Polyglot Gathering! And, a t-shirt, that I had added to my registration.
tote bag, notebook, pin and tshirtA few people were actually curious about the Lombard and Frisian flags
I announced on social media I’d go, and found out a (Swedish-speaking) friend would be there. So I ended up speaking a lot of Swedish which on its turn attracted fellow Scandinavians hearing us..
I could already see the program (see below for the last day) shortly before the Gathering started, so i knew more or less what lectures I wanted to join.
Besides lectures there were also activities as language practice rooms (and a “no English Zone”), talent shows, quizzes, workshops, tasting international snacks.. But that will be for another time …I eventually picked these lectures:
How Kinship systems shape your worldview and reality: cross-cultural anecdotes, by Israel Lai
Polish crash course (1/2 of it) by Zuzanna Yevtushyk
Characteristics of major language families (mainly Romance, Germanic, Slavic and facts about further ones), by Adam Raelson
Brain computer interfaces are coming- Why we now need to aim to C3 level
Esperanto and the other languages (slides in French and lecture in Esperanto)- by Michael Boris Mandirola
The Power of the Hour – Swedish in 6 months by Krisztina Féher
one time slot had multiple interesting courses, others not as much, but most lectures were definitely interesting! I would have gone to a Chinese lecture instead of another one about competing with AI intelligence if I had to do this again, but for the rest I was satisfied with my choices. It was also a pity I had to leave the Polish Crash Course halfway through to go to the Languages Families lecture. Although I must say my brain cells were getting tired, the Czech I had learned wasn’t helpful beyond the first three sentences.
I’d say my favourites were the one about language families and hearing about the strategies used to learn Swedish one hour a day – the way she tracked it was quite inspiring and gave me good insights. Learning about different ways different languages name family members was also pretty cool! See some slides below.
Breaks
Between each lecture there was a break, and you could get coffee or tea. and there were stands selling books, gadgets and stuff.
One was mostly just about Esperanto though – seems to be pretty big at language nerds events. I got a book explaining German idioms, and a tiny tourist phrasebook for Czech. Might be handy for another time!
The main break was of course lunch, a couple hours. You had the option to get lunch either everyday or not at all at the canteen, and it was available in 3 versions: meaty, vegetarian and vegan. Here too, you had to choose one and stick to it for all the days you’d stay there.
The best thing would be having the menu to begin with and freely deciding which version to pick, but I understand that’s for organisational reasons.
I was there only one day so I did not have to stick to only meat or only vegan dishes for 5 days. And I knew I would eat typical Czech food with meat outside anyway, so it was okay. On Sunday the vegetarian version was curry rice, the vegan couscous, the meaty schnitzel. And of course I got soup as side dish, typical Czech.
Closing ceremony & Final Evening
As it was the last day, the final ceremony took place at the end of the lectures, and it was a sum up of the event, organisational effort of the team behind it, Slovakian Edukácia@Internet as main party, thanking all partners and sponsors. and insights about where the Gathering will be next here. Which might be Prague again. Or somewhere in central Europe. Sorry, non-Europeans…
Once the Gathering was over, we still had the possibility to meetup with other polyglots at the beer garden in the evening. As I had only been there that day, I had not had the chance to really chat a lot with others yet. It was quite fun and got to talk to quite a few people – notably a person I am a mutual follower of on tiktok, it was quite amazing to see her in real life – unexpectedly!! I also got Polish chocolates :). Afterwards some people went to pubs – I had a bit trouble switching from Swedish to norwegian after a drink, I must say.
Though English stayed in most contexts as the lingua franca, I still got to speak quite a few languages. I look forward to the next time I will be able to join it, hopefully for longer than just one day!
I went on an interrail trip and had a stop in Denmark, back to Grenaa and Aarhus
Last summer I wanted a little holiday for myself, and as I already had to go home to Italy, I realized I could just do that by train and visit people on the way. My first idea was going to Sweden, and stop by in Denmark. However, I ended up not going to Sweden (I ended up doing that for my birthday in February..)
Starting from Eindhoven I went up through Germany: > Venlo (border NL-DE)> Wuppertal > Hamburg >(border DE-DK)> Fredericia > Aarhus > then the letbane (local train) till Grenaa: 5 trains! I took the first train at 7:40 and arrived at 20:50: 13 hours! Long journey, but I enjoyed it! Besides the initial delays in Germany, the train to Hamburg was 35 minutes late when I was supposed to have 39 minutes waiting time for my train into Denmark …. but I made it ..
DSB (Danish state railways) uses many figurative expressions which would confuse non-experts: for example a ‘dog’ is a thing put under a wheel to prevent it from moving. Or an ‘Half English’ is a spor track which can only turn in one direction.Kolind
At Aarhus station I saw the entrance into the letbane platform, which I had not found in 2021… It was cool to be riding it again! I hopped off in Trustrup where I was picked up, the air was cool but going through the Danish countryside was so nice. I ate fish and couscous for dinner +the Dutch stroopwafels I brought as gift! The house was super cozy – I kind of miss its smell 🙂
22 August: Grenaa centre
The following day I got my wish granted – seeing the centre of Grenaa I had totally missed back in 2021!! And we got food for the dinner – chicken with sweet potato fries and carrots with rasins 🙂 Then a discount version of Champagne Brus ice lollies – eating one again was my second wish!
and here my journal of the first day:
23 August: Aarhus and Den Gamle By Museum
On 23rd August I went to Aarhus according to my plan! Main reason was meeting another friend 2 years later :). It started kind of bad, I could use my friend’s bike, but the saddle was way too high for me, so I first went on foot, which meant walking 1,5 hours. But I enjoyed the place and for once it was okay. Then I realized I should have taken the phone charger, and went all the way back. At that point walking again would take too long.. So I took the bike. Well, that wasn’t the most hyggelig thing. But despite falling once (I had to bike with the tip of my feet) I got to the letbane stop 30 secs before the train arrived!! Just in time to lock the bike..
So once in Aarhus I went to my friend’s place, her dad arrived in the meantime and we chatted a little. They convinced me to go to Den Gamle By, even though there wasn’t soo much time left before the closing time.
I walked headed there, and on the way I entered a second hand shop (genbrug) where I found a nice green-white striped tshirt, for just 20 DKK (3€), the brand was Finnish Marimekko, so a bonus point.
I reached Den Gamle By and went through it very fast, though I didn’t have the time to read most signs.. oh well. It did cost me 25€ but I wouldn’t be there soon again..
I took a lotta pics, so will make an additional post just for Den Gamle By…Here is a taste of it, bakery and home, from the 1800s and in the 70s:
Once i got out I decided to head to AroS, the art museum.
Though I didn’t enter the museum, had nor energies nor time nor will to spend more money on the ticket (Although one day I should walk in the rainbow circle) . What I did was going up the stairs and then straight to the museum shop! I got my first books in Danish, written by Aarhus university professors, from a series of booklets called Tænke Pauser (Breaks to think(?): one about Dreams (Om Drøm) and one about Europe (simply ‘Europa’). Fast forward 1 month I finished and really enjoyed them! The museum sold also quite a lot of Moomin and Pippi Longstocking (in Danish Pippi Langstrømpe) things… But i resisted..
Then, super hungry and a bit tired after an intense day, I wanted to eat something. I got into a 7-Eleven and had to get some Wienerbrød (‘Viennese bread’, Danish pastries that the Danes took from Vienna apparently), I picked a Tebirkes and also bought an ice lolly I had wanted to try for a while, Solbær, which used to be called Kæmpe Eskimo (changed the historic name for politically-correctness reasons, whether it was right or wrong to do that is not up to me to judge). I quickly ate up the lolly and got into a Netto, getting a Studenterbrød!!
So I had the exact same things my friend got as a welcome thing to Denmark on my very first day 2 years before, and I sat at the same place to eat them, Dokk1! God I loved that so much. So Calming. Would be there every summer evening if only I could! I then got the Letbane home and biked again home, really enojoyed that even though the bike comfiness was what it was!
24 August: Grenaa Beach
On my last full day in Denmark we went to Grenaa’s beach, another thing I longed to do again. Later we went into the town and in another second hand shop I found a 1936(!!) figurine album about all European countries, so cool! Besides Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and all that it even had Gdansk/Danzig …
I had to get food for the journey of the following day. We went to a Lidl (I guess cheaper than Kvickly?) and of course I got Rygbrød , cheese and a Spandauer, I guess the most iconic Wienerbrød? My friend told me I had to try the Dagmartærte too. I also bought a cronut. Not really Danish but I had yet to try that…We ate one by one all the rolls of the Dagmartærte while sitting in the garden…
On the evening we watched a Danish horror-ish series called Equinotium, Not my thing, but watching stuff in other languages is always a good idea. Also some random tv-reality shows. I had a lot of trouble understanding my friend’s sarcastic comments in Danish though, gotta improve.
25 August: farvel.. for now
Trustrup letbane stop, on the rainy morning of the day I left Denmark..took the train to Federicia in Aarhus, and there I got a kærnemælkhorn at the 7/11 because why not…
So I am glad I got to fulfill some wishes I have had for a while – Seeing the centre of Grenaa, Eating Danish Ice lollies again and Wienerbrød and getting books in Danish! My journey then continued south to Germany, but I hope I will get to see new parts of Denmark soon! Hej hej!
The ‘anchor’ language concept allowed me to learn Swedish, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian easily starting from studying properly only one language. This approach helps prevent confusion and builds a solid foundational understanding of language structures.
a Polyglot illustrating Scandinavia 